No breakthrough at Clinton-Assad summit

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), MARCH 27. The summit meeting in Geneva yesterday between the U.S. and the Syrian Presidents, Mr. Bill Clinton and Mr. Hafez al Assad, failed to achieve the hoped-for breakthrough in the stalled Syria-Israel leg of the West Asian negotiations. U.S. spokesmen commenting on the meeting said that the gaps between Syria and Israel were still too wide to permit an immediate resumption of talks. Since this meeting was billed as the last chance for a breakthrough, the disappointment at its failure is understandable as is the frustration considering that the substantial difference is said to centre around a small bit of territory.

Mr. Clinton and Mr. Assad met for three hours. The summit started late to give Mr. Clinton time to recuperate from his hectic South Asia tour and the leaders initially met for two hours and then once again after an hour's break. Mr. Clinton was reported to have contacted Israel's Prime Minister Mr. Ehud Barak, before and after the meeting.

According to the agencies, the White House spokesman, Mr. Joe Lockhart, said after the meeting that a narrowing of the differences had not occurred and that the gaps were too wide for the U.S. to believe that an immediate resumption of the talks would be productive.

The Syria-Israel talks were re-launched in December after a gap of four years but broke off after a second meeting in January with Israel refusing to concede the Syrian demand that they return the Golan Heights up to the June 4, 1967 border. While the U.S. Special Envoy, Mr. Dennis Ross, is to come to the region in pursuance of the mediation efforts, the failure of yesterday's summit has dampened expectations. All the parties involved are under time constraints.

Mr. Clinton has only a few more months in office to complete what he could have once thought would be the crowning achievement of his tenure. The Syrian President is believed to be keeping indifferent health and the transition to his successor might not be a very smooth one. Mr. Barak is struggling to keep his ruling coalition intact and he is also under pressure to meet two other deadlines - a withdrawal of his troops from Lebanon by June end and a final peace deal with the Palestinians by September.

Five issues were understood to be on the agenda for discussions yesterday. These were the demarcation of the border following an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, security arrangements on the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon, the exact nature of the relationship that would be wrought between the two sides, the time table for achieving normal relations and confidence-building measures.

While there are differences in approach on all of these issues it is the border issue, and the attendant issue of water rights, that have proved to be the most intractable. Mr. Clinton's National Security Advisor, Mr. Samuel Berger, has been quoted in the Israeli press as saying that this difference might well prove irreconcilable.

It would indeed be a pity if Mr. Berger's assessment turns out to be correct because Israel appeared to have come around to the Syrian view at least to the extent that they would consider the June 4, 1967 border line as the basis for negotiations. This border line lies only a little westward of the 1923 border (drawn up by the French and British colonial powers) which Israel had once set as an alternate basis for negotiations. Both lines lie below the slope of the Golan but while the 1967 line gave the Syrians a presence on the Galilee Lake (given the size of this water body this term is more appropriate than the grandiose ``Sea of Galilee) while the 1923 border was a few hundred metres away from the shoreline.

Israel has so far not come around to accepting a Syrian presence on the shore of the Galilee Lake or any partial control of this water body. They want the border to lie a few hundred metres east of the shore line and the total quantum of land which comprises the substance of the difference is said to amount to just about 22 km.

There have also been several reports of possible compromises. One of the possibilities mentioned was that Israel would have full sovereignty over the Galilee Lake and its shore line but that Syrian citizens would be allowed to use the lake for recreation without needing special permission. Similarly, there was said to be a proposal that Israeli citizens would be able to access hot springs and may be even vineyards on the Syrian Golan even after its return.

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Section  : International
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